Category Archives: math

Counting

Posted on January 31, 2012 by toomai

My five-year-old has been able to rattle off the numbers in order into the teens for a while, but when you ask her to count a set of objects, she can only get up to three consistently. “One, two, three–um–five?” … Continue reading →

Posted in children, math, numbers | Tagged | 3 Comments

Latin Squares, Squared Squares, and Legoed Squares

Posted on January 16, 2012 by toomai

I introduced my kids to Latin Squares the other day. If you know Sudoku then you have seen examples of Latin squares. The idea is to fill in a grid of squares with colors or numbers or some other symbols, … Continue reading →

Posted in geometry, math, polyominoes | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

An Evening of Math I

Posted on September 1, 2009 by toomai

My wife has taken on the challenge of homeschooling our children this year. My main participation in this is a weekly math session with the kids in the evening on any subject of my choosing! Tonight was our first session. … Continue reading →

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How to Eat an Equilateral Cheeseburger

Posted on August 12, 2009 by toomai

My friend Sean worked out an elegant and practical solution to the Cheeseburger problem of my previous post.  I will try to summarize it here. There are fifteen toppings.  To make things simpler we’ll represent them with the numbers one … Continue reading →

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Two Problems in Elementary Cheeseburger Theory

Posted on July 29, 2009 by toomai

A favorite hamburger joint of mine has the following 15 choices for toppings: Mayo Relish Onions Lettuce Pickles Tomatoes Grilled Onions Grilled Mushrooms Ketchup Mustard Jalapeno Peppers Green Peppers A-1 Sauce Bar-B-Q Sauce Hot Sauce After much experimentation, I’ve decided … Continue reading →

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Latest picks from the library

Posted on January 25, 2009 by toomai

Here are the two books that I grabbed recently from the library: How Math Works: 100 Ways Parents and Kids Can Share the Wonders of Mathematics, by Carol Vorderman.  Lots of activities here, but not all of them are all that … Continue reading →

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Go Figure

Posted on November 30, 2008 by toomai

I’ve only looked through this book a little so far, but it looks awesome.  My 7 and 5 year old have looked at it and had fun and I learned several math facts I didn’t know from it today.  I … Continue reading →

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Origami II

Posted on November 26, 2008 by toomai

In answer to yesterday’s post: Yes!  It is possible I didn’t beleive it at first either!  But I have done some experiments.  Try making a simple curved fold yourself.  I’ve found that it is pretty easy to make a curved … Continue reading →

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Origami

Posted on November 24, 2008 by toomai

We all know that you can fold a piece of paper along a straight line. Here is a question to ponder: Can you fold a piece of paper along a curve that isn’t straight without crumpling the paper? Thoughts, theorems, … Continue reading →

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Knot Tying Schema

Posted on November 13, 2008 by toomai

I’ve noticed that whenever my two-year-old wants to tie a knot, she takes the two strands that she’s interested in and repeatedly twists them around each other.  Of course this doesn’t produce any kind of knot at all (or I … Continue reading →

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